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Supporting Your Thesis

1. Reasons

Once you have written a working thesis statement, you need to brainstormreasons why the reader should do what you are asking or agree with your statement.
For example, if your thesis argues that:
Rattlesnake roundups should be banned worldwide. Then your reasons might be:
  1. Rattlesnake roundups represent the only publicly sanctioned cruelty to animals left in our society.
   2. These events pose a serious threat to public health and safety.
  3. Roundups negatively influence people's perception of snakes and reptiles in general.
  4. The roundups are not only harmful to people and animals, they also harm the environment.

After coming up with several reasons to support your thesis, you will needto find evidence that backs up what you are saying with facts and/or statistics.

For this essay, you need to find AT LEAST THREE quotes from differen tsources to back up your reasons, as well as at least one source that covers   opposing arguments which you will address and/or refute in one body paragraphof your paper. To say it another way, find THREE pieces of PRO evidence andONE piece of CON evidence on your argumentative thesis.

2. Evidence

You can probably find a quote from someone to support almost anystatement  you can make. However, you need to be careful where you getthis support, lest it undermine your credibility, or ethos. Try following this link, for example, to the Flat Earth Society on the internet. This is a group of people who believe that the earth is actually flat, despite centuries of scientific evidence to the contrary. There are many more groups out there offering similar, "scientific" evidence to back up such outrageous claims. The best way to avoid using such spurious information in your research is to look for YES answers to these important questions on the web pages or publication information of your source:
a. Are the authors clearly identified?
b. Are the authors and/or web managers of the source or site authorities intheir field?
c. Does the page/source originate at a well known and respected academic orcommercial entity? (For example, a major university like the University ofAlabama, the state or federal government, a respected national newspaper likethe New York Times, or a respected publication like Encyclopedia Britannica.)  
Hint: look at the suffix of web sites: d. Does the source contain grammatical, spelling, or other typographical errorsin the text, which might indicate a lack of quality control?
e. Is the source free of links to other sources of questionable taste? (Be wary of any web page with a pop-up window offering illicit or explicit material.)
You have already had a library orientation which will help youto find both print and electronic information from the Southern Union library.For the purposes of  this class, the   Alabama Virtual Library   is the only link to the vast resources of the internet you will need. It will lead you to several methods of finding credible sources. One caution: some of the AVL databases are geared toward children. Use the adult ones. You'll find more sophisticated information there.If you are confused once you've logged on to the AVL, don't hesitate  to askMrs. Champion or Mrs. Holley to help you, but on the other hand, don't expectthem to do your work for you. Librarians can be most helpful to you when youhave specific questions about information you have been researching.    
Once you've gotten into the AVL and have chosen a database like ProQuest, try these methods for finding your topic:
1. Topic browsing
        If you aren't sure where to start, try the Browse option given by some sources. If this option is available, you will be able to click on general topics that give you a menu of more specific topics to click on. This way, you can  narrow your search enough to come up with a manageable source list.
2. Keyword searching
        Most sources will give you a box in which you cantype a word or words to look up. To be successful, you need to brainstorm a list of words that relate to your topic and are specific enough so that you don't have to sift through thousands of sources to find a good match.             

For more guidance on finding and evaluating evidence,  goto the Purdue Online Writing Lab's handouts on web research.

NOTE: Once you click on a link to an outside source, you won't have a direct link back to this page. To get back, click on File at the top of your page, choose Open, or Open Web Location on the pull down menu, and type in   www.auburn.edu/~stephsg)

    (Remember to print, save, or bookmark any sources you find useful so you can easily locate them again!)

Once you have chosen the sources you will use in your essay, you will need to document them.
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